Oxygen Art Centre is pleased to host resident artists prOphecy sun and Darren Fleet for the creation of Nostalgic Geography: Mama and Papa have Trains, Orchards and Mountains in their Backyard, a multi-channel AV installation exploring the history and geography of Harrop-Procter. prOphecy sun and Darren Fleet have been working collaboratively since 2009 and currently live in Nelson BC with their two children. Their shared work includes writing, curation, visual art, music and sound compositions. In their latest project to be presented at Oxygen Art Centre, they will focus on a series of fictional aerial vignettes and sound environments created with drone and smartphone technologies. This exhibition is a meditation on the relational networks of technology, economy, landscape and memory that have shifted the geography of Harrop-Procter, prOphecy sun’s parental residence.

sun and Fleet will be in residence at Oxygen from August 19th through September 5th 2019. There will be a reception for the artists on Friday September 6 at 6:00pm, before the Nelson Art Walk Gala at Hall Street Plaza. An artist talk with both artists present will take place on Saturday September 7th at 4pm. The exhibition will run from September 6 through 28th, with a closing dinner open to the public on September 27th at 5:30pm at Oxygen Art Centre, where they will prepare a meal using food harvested from their family’s farm in Harrop-Procter. During the exhibition, Oxygen Art Centre will be open to the public Wednesday – Saturday 1pm-5pm. Admission is free or by donation, and Oxygen is located at 320 Vernon street (alley entrance behind Hipperson’s Hardware).

Harrop-Procter is a rural community surrounded by historical fruit orchards, mountainous meadows and a train rail line that hugs the lakeside and rides from west to east daily. Where once paddleboats used to navigate the lake, now cars, trucks and fibre optic cables connect us together. “Yet, these historical relations remain, shaping our imaginaries with deep grooves in the senses of the land,” says sun. On the hillsides in and around Sunshine Bay, neatly parceled residential lots now cut through what was once a thriving fruit producing region. The aged trees, many of them grey, gnarled, and half broken, are buried up to their branches in tall grass, yet continue to produce apples. In Nostalgic Geography: Mama and Papa have Trains, Orchards and Mountains in their Backyard artists prOphecy sun and Darren Fleet use AV technology to reveal the complex social and economic relations that have shaped the historical orchards and surrounding landscape. An ambient soundscore composed of field recordings taken in-situ will accompany the moving imagery, amplified throughout the gallery.

ABOUT prOphecy sun & Darren FleetprOphecy sun is an interdisciplinary performance artist, feminist, movement, video and sound maker, mother and PhD Candidate at the School of Interactive Arts + Technology at Simon Fraser University. She holds a BFA and MFA from Emily Carr University of Art + Design. Her practice celebrates both conscious and unconscious moments, and the vulnerable spaces of the in-between in which art and life overlap. She performs and exhibits regularly in local, national and international settings, festivals, conferences and galleries. She is also the recipient of the Governor Generals Award and the Lakehead Jurors Prize and has authored several peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, and journal publications.

Darren Fleet is an ex-poet from Aldergrove, schooled in the Fukovian theory of aesthetics. He is also a writer, journalist, photographer and PhD candidate and instructor at the SFU School of Communication. His interests include consumer culture, environmental discourse and the cultural politics of fossil fuels. He holds an MA in Journalism from UBC and was part of the editorial team at Adbusters magazine that launched the #occupywallstreet meme into the world. His work has been featured in numerous publications and forums including: Vice, Public, Journalists for Human Rights, UTNE Reader, Al-Jazeera, The National Observer, The Tyee, The Globe & Mail, and at the Istanbul Biennial of Art.

ABOUT Oxygen Art CentreBased in Nelson BC, Oxygen Art Centre is a rural artist-run centre that provides space and programming for artists and the public to engage in the creation, study, exhibition and performance of contemporary art in all disciplines. Oxygen Art Centre is particularly interested in work with regional relevance, interdisciplinary work and work that engages audiences in participatory processes. Oxygen’s Exhibition and Residency Program supports process-based projects that encourage experimentation and push conventional practice. Founded in 2002, Oxygen is an integral and long-standing cultural hub for artists of all disciplines and professional levels in the West Kootenays and beyond.